If you are trying to hit a local area, go to the main media and check their contact page. As example, I googled, "latimes press release" and found this page http://www.latimes.com/about/la-contact-us-htmlstory.html.

It will take some sweat equity. I would not trust any type of purchased database.

Otherwise, as Terry suggested, contact a good PR agency. They will have their own personal database of contacts and area already in contact with media on a regular basis. Because they have a built in releationship, the chances of your release hitting the right eyes will be much higher.

There are also sites like pr.com or prweb.com. Having been in the non-editorial side of the newspaper business, I asked some of my editorial friends if they use those sites and did not get a positive response. I think those types of sites are used by other sites that suck in newsfeeds.

Social media is a also a good choice.

For any of these options, it takes time and unless you have something to publish like a published cure for cancer, the chances of getting your item out at a specific time with little lead time is not very high.

When you do submit your information, make sure it does not read as a sales piece, is concise and well written.

Beyond that, PR Agencies keep their list of journalists/contacts, close to the vest. Generally speaking, this is their most valuable commodity and the reason it costs more to use a PR Agency, compared to a PR distribution service like prnewswire.com.

Agencies work with their press contacts weeks/months in advance to sync up 'topics' for releases/stories. This way the PR Agency can work with their client to create a release that the journalist can break as a story on a topic they've already been assigned to cover.

If they were to hand over this list of contacts, they'd effectively give you the keys to the castle and risk losing their long established relationships.

Now, that said, you may be able to find a freelancer (publicist with editorial placement history) with industry contacts. This person would potentially be willing to forward your release to their media contacts, if the scenario made sense.

You could search freelance sites for terms like publicist, editorial placement, public relations, etc.

The other option is you find the sites where you would like to see your release published. You identify the authors of previous articles. You reach out to each of those authors individually. Most of them want to hear from people with potential stories.

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